Jewel City Seafood is located 1317 4th Ave., Huntington. It is both a fresh seafood restaurant and market. New kitchen equipment and some new menu additions will be coming soon.

Lent kicks off busy season for Jewel City Seafood

Jan. 30, 2013 @ 07:10 PM

PAUL SEBERT

HUNTINGTON -- The religious season of Lent will start Wednesday, Feb. 13, beginning one of the busiest times of the year for Jewel City Seafood.

The seafood market's history dates back to the 1920s when owner Joe Beter's family started a market called Beter & Sons which was later renamed Beter Brothers.

"We do some really good business through this time. Our busy season starts with Lent and lasts all summer long," Owner Joe Beter said. "We are also going to be installing some new kitchen equipment. We started looking into that about four months ago. We ordered the equipment to be custom-made so when it arrives we should only be down for a day max. It will arrive shortly before Lent, and we may be able to install it on a Sunday when we're closed. We are going to have a new broiler, an extra oven, a six-burner stove, a bigger grill, and a bigger griddle. Grilled food has always been a bottleneck for us, in that if we get too many orders we can't keep up on the grill. With the new kitchen we'll have more space for grilled and broiled items."

Beter and Chef Brian Bader are hoping to roll out a new spring menu in late March/early April.

"I have a background in Italian cooking, so we might try some seafood risottos on the new menu or maybe some seafood stuffed manicotti," Bader said. "We made a ceviche that turned out pretty well last year. So when the weather warms up we might try a Caribbean ceviche."

Bader has been a chef with the restaurant since March of last year. Bader worked at the Calamity Café before moving to Morgantown, W.Va., and running a catering company while in school. Barder attended culinary school at North Carolina's Johnson & Wales before returning to Huntington.

"We have also had a lot of people asking to add fish tacos," Beter added.

Jewel City will continue to offer a wide menu of dishes ranging from budget friendly lunches to gourmet crab.

"We make all of our sauces from scratch; we make all of our side dishes and salads. Nothing comes from a box," Beter said. "We have a Cajun shrimp fried Poboy sandwich that is out of this world. It's not real spicy but it has a lot of flavor with our homemade Cajun sauce, lettuce and tomato on Cajun bun. It rocks.

"We have fresh farm-raised fish on the menu along with wild-caught fish specials, which change every day," Beter added. "You don't just tell fishermen 'I just want walleye.' They catch what they can. It changes. Right now this is Virginia flounder season, which is a beautiful fish."

Jewel City Seafood is located at 1317 4th Ave., Huntington. It is open from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It is closed Sunday. Cash and all major credit/debit cards are accepted.